


Memories Left Forgotten

by DustyTales



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: M/M, Selectively Mute Link
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-04-18 01:11:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14201775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustyTales/pseuds/DustyTales
Summary: Link only recovers a hand full of memories from before the Calamity. There are thing he will never get back, memories of kindness and sorrow, laughter and pain alike.These are the memories left forgotten, the pieces left behind which will eventually lead to a love Link never expected.*A character study of a selectively mute, homosexual Link who eventually ends up with Prince Sidon.





	1. The Mute

**Author's Note:**

> There's a reason Link doesn't speak a word in any of his memories;  
> Talking is hard.

_ They thought me broken, that my tongue was coated lead _ __  
_ But I just couldn't make my words make sense to them _ _  
_ __ If you only listen with your ears... I can't get in

  * The Mute, Radical Face   
  




Link wished, not for the first time, that words came easier to him. He wished to ask why the Princess hated him so. He wished to ask what he had done, and what he could do to right this obviously terrible wrong.

He wished to get along with Zelda.

But his tongue was lead in his mouth, as it always was, and he dared not risk bringing voice from his shattered throat. And he hated himself for it.

He did not regret plucking the legendary sword from its pedestal in the Koroc Forest. His life had never felt so whole and complete since the moment he first laid hand on the sword’s shining hilt. The sword spoke to him. The sword  _ trusted  _ him. And he had to trust it in return. The sword had chosen  _ him  _ for this job, and the sword had never chosen wrong.

So why did it feel so wrong? Why did the crushing weight on his shoulders keep his throat too tight to form words?

Link had always been a quiet man. It had frustrated his father to no end. But it was different now, his world had changed the moment he claimed the Master Sword. He was there to be seen, not heard. He was a wielder of a weapon now, and nothing more. So he held his tongue; no one believed he had anything of value to say anyway.

 

But after the Yiga attack in the desert, things…  _ changed. _ For the first time since Link had been appointed to her side, Zelda treated him with kindness. She acted as if she actually appreciated his company. And Link felt the knot in this throat slowly begin to unwind.

It was over dinner one night that it happened. Zelda had invited Link to dine with her for the first time, and the boy’s heart had clenched at the gesture. She was no longer only tolerating his company, she was inviting him into her life. And his chest felt fit to burst.

The Princess was smiling, laughing, teasing him for his rather voracious appetite. Link’s ears drooped as a blush crept across his cheeks, and even as he ducked his head, something so very powerful changed inside him.

The first words he spoke to Zelda were nothing important, not to mention how his voice wavered and hitched from disuse. But they would both remember them vividly, because they were the first words he spoke aloud in so very long.

“Pardon me, Princess.”

Zelda’s laughter came to an abrupt halt, and Link felt illogical fear grip his gut in the seconds before the Princess spoke.

“All this time… I had thought you were mute.”

Link couldn't meet her eyes. He knew they had all thought that. 

“Why… If you could speak all this time, why don't you?” Zelda inquired.

Link hesitated. He didn't really have an answer to that. At least not one that would make sense. He sighed. “Talking is… hard.” he croaked, “People don't want it from someone like me. So I just… don't.”

The Princess looked thoughtful at this, her brow creasing with focus. “Surely you don't think people don't wish to hear from you?”

Link shrugged, twirling one of his braids nervously. “I'm wanted for my presence, not my voice.”

Zelda sat up a little straighter in her chair. “Well  _ I  _ would be delighted to know more about you.” She said insistently.

The boy couldn't help but smile. The fire the Princess had inside her was something Link admired greatly.

“Well I… I play the ocarina…”


	2. To Know of my Struggles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day Zelda learns.

Moments like this had become common now. Zelda and Link sat in the fields that the Princess loved so much, and they talked. To be fair, Link just listened on most days. Zelda had so much weight upon her shoulders, Link was glad she spoke to someone, at least. She had so much doubt inside her that Link didn't have the power to vanquish. But he could listen. By the Goddess, he could do that, at least.

But today? Today was different. Link had too much burdening his own heart today. And Zelda was perceptive as always.

“Something's bothering you.” She said. It was not a question.

“No, nothing.” Link grunted back, using simple not-really-sentences as always.

The Princess gave him a skeptical look. “You're not as secretive as you think you are,” she insisted, “Your ears are much too expressive for that. They're drooping like a sad puppy.”

Link flushed, looking pointedly away. He felt his ears prick in his indignation, which only made him more irritable. “You don't wanna hear about it. ‘S too personal.”

Zelda seemed genuinely puzzled by that. “If you don't wish to tell me because it's personal, that's one thing, but I don't understand why you think I wouldn't want to hear it.”

Link picked at the grass nervously. “People get embarrassed.” he provided unhelpfully.

Zelda folded her arms across her chest and huffed. “Now you're just being cryptic for the sake of it.”

The boy sighed, flopping back in the grass and throwing an arm across his face. “There's this… stable hand. We uh… we got a… a thing. No one's supposed to know and we… Got caught.”

Zelda stifled her giggles behind a hand like a proper lady would. “A ‘thing’ you say? I surely couldn't know what such a vague statement could mean.”

Link sat up just enough to scowl at her, causing her to fall beside him in the grass in a fit of giggles. He groaned, and threw both arms over his heavily flushing face.

After several long moments of laughing at him, Zelda regained her breath, propping herself up on one elbow to look at her knight.

“O-oh dear.” he managed through giggles, “How bad are we talking here?”

Link grunted at her, not even bothering to uncover his face this time. “I was… in a compromising position.”

Though Zelda did giggle a bit at that response, she did not seem satisfied. “Compromising you say? How very scandalous!”

“You don't want me to explain this.”

“You don't know what I want!” She retorted defiantly.

Link grunted in annoyance, but sat up. Looking Zelda straight in the eyes, he clarified in a calm monotone voice.

“His name is Orias. When things are too much we get away together in the hay storage by the stables. We usually just lay in the hay. But today… he was on top of me when his father came in looking for his tools. His dad tried to stab me with a pitchfork.”

The situation had stopped being funny. The Princess sat up quickly, reaching out to grab Link’s hands. He allowed it, but had to look away; the overwhelming pity in her eyes threatened to drown him.

“Oh Link, I'm so sorry.” she began in that soft, motherly voice that Link both loved and hated. “I understand him being upset to learn something so… new about his son. But he tried to _stab_ you?”

Link only nodded, still staring at the grass.

“Why on earth would he do that?”

Link’s eyes fell shut as the words spilled out. “He was pretty clear. ‘Faggots got no place here’ and stuff like that. I haven't seen Orias since early this morning. ‘M scared for him.”

“If he lays a hand on his son I'll have him fired.” Zelda insisted.

Link looked at her with sharp eyes. “Who does that help? Than Orias and that bastard are dragged out of our reach where I can't protect him anymore. All firing him does is let you have the moral high ground and get him out of your sight where he can beat his son in peace.”

Zelda started at his harsh words. Link had never spoken to her like this before.

“Surely I have the power to-”

“All you have the power to do is drag us into the sunlight so the villagers can start lining up their shots!” Link snapped, getting to his feet now. “I'm your right hand, no one can touch me, but they’ll eat him alive and I can't let you do that!”

Zelda was silent for a moment, stunned. When she spoke again, her voice was soft. “I'm sorry. I clearly know nothing of your struggles.”

Link’s anger fell away as quickly as it had built, and he sat down next to the Princess once again. He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh before he could look at her. “Forgive me. I have no right to speak to you that way.”

Zelda leaned closer to her knight, putting a hand on his shoulder. “It's alright,” she reassured gently, “It's scary to open up.”

Link agreed with a grunt. He was silent for a long moment before he could find his next words. “You're the only one who knows.”

She gave him that gentle smile that made his heart flutter. “I’ll make sure it stays that way.”

 

Orias was sent to a stable on the other side of Highrule for “training” on taming wild horses. The Princess could not interfere without drawing attention to him; it was with a heavy heart that she watched the man her knight loved carted away from his reach.

Link never got to say goodbye.


	3. Epona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link's best friend is a horse.

Link’s relationship with people was… difficult for him to pin down. Even as a young boy Link had difficulties speaking his mind. He felt a tight knot in his belly that pulled much too tight to let him voice himself, and only when he got to know someone did that knot begin to unravel. Link’s father had always compared him to a skittish pony, and the boy had a difficult time arguing with that, especially given his affinity with horses.

Even as a child, Link had always had the urge to roam. It surprised no one that as soon as he was old enough, he spent as much time as possible out on the plains. Link would never tell his father what it was he spent his time doing, but than again, Link had a hard time telling his father anything. He kept it hidden only partly because he suspected his father would be disappointed. Link did not spend his time training in the woods against beasts, he spent it taking the plains at a light trot, and talking to his horse.

Link loved his horse more than he loved most people. The beautiful chestnut mare was the only gift his father had ever given him, but it was enough. It was more than enough. Her name was Epona, and she was perfect. 

Epona was intelligent; The things Link could convince her to do with just a whistle or a wave confused and sometimes enraged the stable-hands.

Epona was stubborn; She refused to behave for anyone but Link, a fact that Link secretly cherished.

Epona was expressive; Link could tell anything and everything about her from the way she flicked her tail and how she moved her ears.

Epona was caring; She knew when he needed a little nuzzle, a tug on his tunic, or a game of chase in the fields.

Epona listened. Link swore she  _ listened.  _ She would flick her ears and whinny or snort at all the right places. She’d nudge Link to his feet when he was down. She’d toss her head as if to agree when he was angry.  She’d cuddle close and lick his face when he cried.

Link’s best friend was a horse, and he didn’t care how anyone else felt about it.

Not even his father.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and critiques welcome and encouraged!


End file.
